privacy policy

ThroughFriends ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). This policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, who can see it, and your rights in relation to it.

By creating an account, you agree to your information being handled as described here.

Who we are

ThroughFriends is operated by Jack Brereton, operating as ThroughFriends, based in Sydney, Australia. If you have any questions about this policy or how your information is handled, contact us at jack.k.brereton@gmail.com.

Information we collect

Account information. Your email address and a password, which you provide when you sign up. Passwords are stored only as salted hashes by our authentication provider, and we never see your password.

Profile information. Your first name and surname, date of birth (from which we calculate and display your age), gender, occupation, bio, prompt answers, relationship goal, and the photos you upload. You choose what to put in these fields, and you can edit or remove them at any time in the app.

Matching preferences. The age range and the gender or genders you would like to be matched with.

Location. If you grant location permission, the app reads your device's location once at the time you set up or edit your profile, converts it into a city label (for example, "Sydney, NSW"), and stores both that label and the underlying coordinates on your profile. We use this to place you in the right match pool and to display your city on your profile. We do not track your location in the background, and we do not read your location except at the moment you tap to set it. Granting location permission is optional. If you decline, you can continue to use the app and set your city another way.

Availability. The days and times you mark as free, which we use to schedule dates.

Matchmaker and friend relationships. Who you have invited to be your matchmaker, who has accepted, and any written review a friend contributes to your profile. Invitations are sent by you as a link you share yourself. We do not access your phone's contacts or address book.

Activity in the app. Selections your matchmakers make on your behalf, matches, booked dates, messages you send to a match, date attendance, cancellations, and the ratings you leave after a date.

Safety reports. If you report or block another user, we collect the report reason, any details you write, and the account and date it relates to. We retain this information for safety purposes.

Technical and usage information. When you use the app, our analytics and crash reporting providers receive technical information such as device model, operating system version, app version, general region derived from IP address, crash and error diagnostics, and records of which screens and actions you used. We use this only to keep the app working and to understand how the product is used.

Sensitive information

Your gender, and the preferences you provide about who you would like to be matched with, may reveal information about your sexual orientation. Under the Privacy Act this is "sensitive information" and attracts a higher standard of protection than ordinary personal information. We collect it only with your explicit consent, given when you complete your profile at signup, and we use it only to operate the matching function you signed up for.

How we use your information

We use your information to:

• create and maintain your account
• build the profile that you and your matchmakers see
• generate daily match batches and run the matching process
• schedule and book dates around your stated availability
• let you and your match exchange messages about a booked date
• investigate safety reports and enforce blocks
• keep the app stable and diagnose crashes
• understand how the app is used so we can improve it
• contact you about your account or about a booked date

We do not use your information for purposes unrelated to the app's core function without your further consent. We do not use it to build advertising profiles, we do not serve advertising, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

Who can see your information

Your matchmakers. You may appoint up to five matchmakers, who view your daily profile batch and make selections on your behalf. This is disclosed to you during onboarding and requires your active setup. Matchmakers see the profile information needed to make a selection, meaning photos and profile responses. They do not see your email address, your password, your account settings, or your messages.

People you are matched with. When you match, the other person sees your profile and can exchange messages with you about the booked date. They do not see your email address or your contact details unless you choose to share them.

Friends who write a review. If a friend contributes a written review to your profile, that review and the friend's first name are visible to people who view your profile. You choose whether to feature a review.

Nobody else. Your profile is not public, is not indexed by search engines, and is not visible outside the app.

Disclosure to third parties

We do not sell personal information to anyone.

We use the following service providers to run the app. Each may access personal information only to provide services to us, not for their own purposes:

Information may be disclosed to venue partners only to the extent necessary to facilitate a booked date, such as party size and time, not your profile details.

We may also disclose personal information where we are required or permitted to do so by law, or where we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to prevent a serious threat to someone's life, health, or safety.

Overseas storage and disclosure

Our primary database and your photos are hosted in Australia (Sydney region). Some providers we rely on, listed in the table above, process information on servers located outside Australia, including in the United States. Where this occurs we take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle your information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles, as required by APP 8.

Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your information, including encryption in transit and at rest, row-level access controls in the database so that users can only read the records they are entitled to, and profile photos served through short-lived signed links rather than public URLs. No system is perfectly secure, but we review these controls as the service grows.

Access and correction

Most of your information can be viewed and corrected directly in the app under profile and settings. You may also request access to, or correction of, your personal information by emailing jack.k.brereton@gmail.com. We will respond within a reasonable time, and we will not charge for a straightforward access request. If we refuse a request, we will tell you why in writing.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from inside the app, under profile and settings. You do not need to contact us or give a reason. If you would rather ask us to do it, email jack.k.brereton@gmail.com from the address on your account and we will action it within 30 days.

Deletion happens immediately and cannot be undone. It removes your profile (including your name, date of birth, gender, occupation, bio, prompt answers and location), your photos, your availability, the messages you have sent, the ratings you have left, your links to your matchmakers and to anyone you matchmake for, and any review you have written about someone else. Your email address is removed from the account, freeing it for use again, and the account is locked so it can never be signed into. You are signed out on every device.

Two things are deliberately kept. Where you and another person were matched or went on a booked date, a record that the booking happened is kept on their side, stripped of your profile details, because it is equally their history and not only yours. Safety reports and blocks are also kept, whether you filed them or they were filed about you, because deleting them would let someone escape a report by deleting and re-registering. Neither retains your name, photos, contact details or profile content.

Deleted data may also persist in routine encrypted backups, which are cycled out within 90 days.

Retention

While your account is active, we retain your profile and activity data so the service can function. Analytics and crash reporting data is retained by those providers on their standard retention schedules and is not used to build a profile of you.

Children

ThroughFriends is not intended for anyone under 18, and you must be 18 or over to create an account. We rely on self-reported date of birth at signup, consistent with standard practice for dating apps. If we become aware that we have collected information from someone under 18, we will delete it and close the account.

Data breach notification

If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top will reflect the most recent change, and we will notify you in the app of any material change before it takes effect.

Complaints

If you have concerns about how your information is handled, you can complain to us directly at jack.k.brereton@gmail.com. We will acknowledge your complaint and respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.